


Uncovered Song

by SubtextEquals



Category: Nightrunner Series - Lynn Flewelling
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 06:37:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10691760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SubtextEquals/pseuds/SubtextEquals
Summary: After their return to Rhíminee, Alec finds Seregil's old writings. In it there is a song about one of Seregil's great loves. But he really should know by now not to underestimate his sense of humor.





	Uncovered Song

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a fic title prompt from a tumblr friend: "Uncovered Song"

It had taken time but Alec and Seregil were now at ease in Rhíminee. The stabs of pain Alec felt through their talímenios bond were no longer as frequent and their intensity diminished. Alec wondered if his emotions were helping any. What Seregil found painful, Alec found comfortable. He loved Seregil wherever they were, would go wherever he went, but Rhíminee had been his first home.

With the Cockerell Inn renovated, Micum decided their home needed some finishing touches. He regifted them Seregil’s old belongings, stashed away at Watermead over the course of many trips through the years Seregil had known him.

Downstairs, Seregil and Micum bickered. Alec had heard enough of this argument the past few weeks to know how it would go. Still, habit had Alec eavesdropping as he rifled through one of the chests Micum brought to their room.

“I don’t need all of this,” Seregil said. “I would have taken it if I did.”

“Watermead isn’t storage.” Micum sounded like he was holding back a laugh. “Stop fussing. I know you’ll fill it up again with your worthless treasures.”

“My treasures are never worthless. Eclectic, perhaps...”

Just at that moment, Alec freed a strange contraption from the chest. Part of it had broken off, but even if it were intact, he wouldn’t know what to make of the globes spinning around a full moon. Each sphere connected to the object’s base by pliable metal. Alec tested the strength of one. It snapped off. As he set it aside, he realized he’d missed what Micum had said in response.

Whatever it was, Seregil laughed him off. “My tastes are impeccable.”

Micum snorted.

Alec’s brow furrowed as he came to the bottom of the chest. Or, better put, the middle. From there down was nothing but stacks of shuffled parchment.

“They are currently impeccable,” Seregil corrected.

“Shall we ask Alec?”

“He is to whom I’m referring.”

“Oh, you know I won’t fall for that.” Micum was too experienced not to notice Seregil’s evasion attempts, as was Alec, who noted it was a poor one to begin with. “He’s not part of your collection, Seregil. You didn’t leave him in Watermead with the rest of your scribblings.”

The furrow in Alec’s brow deepened when he recalled how narrowly he’d escaped that fate.

“You’re taking them,” Micum finished.

Alec picked up one stack of said scribblings. He recognized Seregil’s flowing hand, legible even when rushing to capture his thoughts. The parchment was not only faded but the ink as well. How old were these?

“Well,” Seregil’s voice turned thoughtful. “I don’t appear to have a choice. Alec is looking through my ‘collection’ as we speak.”

Once, Alec might have shoved the writings back in a panic at being caught. Now, he simply slipped the stack onto a desk he was sure Seregil would cover with newer “scribbles.”

He turned and shouted, “Don’t ask me to fight all your battles, talí.”

Alec could almost see Seregil touch his heart in mock pain as he scoffed. But he felt only amusement and affection felt through their bond.

“Micum, my talímenios has abandoned me. I shall have to pack up my things and return with you to Watermead as the last addition to these worthless treasures.”

Alec laughed when Micum yelled for him to come down before he threw Seregil into the river.

 

Despite his protests to Micum, that night Seregil settled on their bed with a rediscovered book in his hand.

“I wondered where this was.” Seregil turned a page. He traced the words with his finger. “I stopped looking for this a decade ago.”

“You should thank Micum.” Alec chose a random spot in the stack of parchments and pulled out a page. This one wasn’t as old, he'd estimate it had been penned not long before he and Seregil had met.

Seregil said nothing. Neither did Alec, he’d read the first line of what had to be a song.

_My inconstant love,_

Alec frowned. He’d accepted that he was far removed from being Seregil’s first but it was never pleasant to see reminders of it. This was also not the first song he’d seen about one of Seregil’s former lovers.

He scanned the first few lines, tackling each of them separately before piecing them together. The composition was lovely, of course, having been written by Seregil. But it was more haphazard than most. Had he been frustrated, bored, or simply heartbroken?

He described the depths of his “dark lady’s” eyes. Alec’s heart sank when he read the words that followed, how Seregil had never understood how this secret part of his heart before he met her. That line burned more than the one about how Seregil longed to stroke his hand down her smooth, silken back again, missing how she arched under his touch. He lamented how she ran off every morning, returning only at night, yet he could never resist her.

Alec stopped there.

Dimly, he registered the soft shut of a book. “Talí?” Seregil asked. “What are you reading?”

Sometimes, Alec wished he had more control over what feelings their bond shared with Seregil.

“It’s only--” Before he turned away, his eyes fell on the last line.

_If you would but stay, I would shelter you forever in my arms, my Ruetha._

Ruetha.

Alec groaned.

Seregil walked over to him. His arms wrapped around Alec’s shoulders. “Alec, what is it?”

Alec couldn’t bear to open his eyes. He knew that Seregil’s were now on the song he’d written years ago.

Seregil paused a few moments, then he shook. “Oh, talí.”

“Stop,” Alec said.

“I thought you loved Ruetha.”

“Seregil…” Alec bowed his head, feeling his blush deepen.

“She’d be so hurt. She loves you so... yet here you are, jealous of her. ”

“You were jealous of her feline lovers.”

“I was more upset I had to raise their children.” Seregil finally gave in and laughed. “Alec, you know I’ve only truly loved you.” In spite of his mirth, Alec heard the sincerity in Seregil’s voice and felt it in his touch as he stroked Alec’s hair.

Alec sighed and decided this was not the worst blow his pride had taken since meeting Seregil. In a few days, Seregil would find something else to amuse him. Alec would bear it until then. He may even have his own fun with it.

Alec tilted his head up to look at Seregil. “You can be honest. I know I can’t compete with her smooth, silken back.”

Seregil grinned and slid one finger down the back of Alec’s neck, tracing his spine. “Can’t you?”

Alec allowed himself to be pulled out of his seat, then onto the bed. A new feeling spread over him, one half his own and half Seregil’s.

“The first joke you make, you are sleeping on the floor.”

“What if I purr?”

Alec shoved his talímenios off the bed.

He let him back later, after Seregil promised his own song.


End file.
